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PARTISAN REVIEW
were seeing a "hit" first, before it was acclaimed in New York.
The only thing that suffered was the basic premise behind the
permanent theater ensemble. Instead of developing companies,
the resident theaters began to job in stars; instead of developing
new writers, they featured plays by established Broadway figures;
instead of exploring new production techniques, they remained
satisfied with a conventional literal realism; instead of taking
chances, they grew attracted to what would sell. As a result, there
are at this moment no more than four or five major theaters left
in the country with permanent resident companies; and at the
same time that the resident theater movement is being hailed for
its contributions to the culture, it has effectively abandoned its
franchise and turned itself into a mechanism manufacturing
products for the system.
Instead of multiplying examples of this depressing develop–
ment, let me try to construct a general proposition, conceding
that it is somewhat extreme and admits of considerable qualifi–
cation: HAL's control over the culture is becoming a strangle–
hold. High and popular culture, whatever their relationship to
each other, could once survive in separate pockets-popular art
in slick magazines, commercial radio, Tin Pan Alley, Broadway
and Hollywood, high art in little magazines, FM radio, the
concert hall, off Broadway, and the art gallery. Today, a supreme
power rules them all, whose name is HAL. With the promise of
stardom, he can turn serious artists into corporations; with the
promise of profits, he can subvert institutions; with the promise
of mass appeal, he can convert vitality and variety into stagnant
uniformity; with the promise of public recognition, he can
absorb us all into the system. He
is
the system, and we'd better
recognize that he is starting to monitor the life support appara–
tus of each and everyone of us.
I have two questions relative to this proposition, and for the
first I have no answer. How does one go about trying to identify
and resist the depredations of the HAL computer without
becoming self-righteous and shrill? How do you join battle with
a Philistine without becoming a Pharisee?
It
is obvious that
those who have capitulated to HAL stand in a very loose, relaxed
relationship to the culture, while those who try to defy him tend
